Fizzwidget Hunter's Helper

Really, I'm not one to gallivant about the wilderness trying to make friends with beasts... at my size, it's a good way to get eaten! Besides, keeping a full stock of bits & bibbles for your critter can be terrible for your cash flow. But a Hunter friend of mine managed to convince me there'd be good money in outfitting such outdoorsy types, and before I knew it my workbench was cluttered with all sorts of animal-seeking, food-measuring, and pet-minding contraptions.

This gadget couldn't be any simpler to use: point it at a beast you see in the wild, and its zootropic neurowave scanner will analyze the critter's noggin and tell you what, if any, new tricks it can teach you.* Know what you're looking for, but not sure where to look? It'll help with that, too -- I've pre-programmed it with an extensive database on creature behavior (straight from Petopia, the best zoological resource on Azeroth), easily indexed by skill.

* Not recommended for use by elderly gnolls.

Features

When you mouse over a beast in the world, the tooltip will show which abilities a Hunter could learn after taming it. (Or no additional info if the beast doesn't have any known abilities.)

If you're currently playing a hunter, the abilities will be colored according to whether you've already learned them: green for abilities you have yet to learn, and gray for those you already know.

Need to know where to find new abilities for your pet?

Type `/huntershelper` (or `/hh`) to show the Hunter's Helper UI and browse its database by ability or by zone. Various filters and a search feature are available, so it's quick to find a pet that has what you're looking for.

Visit the Hunter's Helper pane in the Interface Options window (or type `/hh button`) to enable the HH minimap button, which shows when you're in a zone that contains beasts you can tame to learn new abilities. (Mouse over it for details on them.)

Type `/hh find <ability> <rank>` for a quick search with results in the chat window.

The Hunter's Helper UI also serves as an improved replacement for the Beast Training window; its compact layout and flexible filters make finding an ability and rank much quicker... and it shows accurate training point costs for upgrading an ability to a higher rank. (Tip: this means you can also show the HH UI by "casting" Beast Training from your spellbook, action bar, or macro.)

Hunter's Helper also notifies you in chat if you tame (or cast Beast Lore on) a beast whose skillset isn't what was expected. HH's database of pet abilities comes from Petopia -- visit there to submit a correction.

v. 2.4.3 - 2008/06/20
- Availability (color) of abilities in the top part of the HH window should now follow more sensibly from that of individual ranks.
- Uses a new, locale-independent way to keep track of spell names and icons -- should result in proper behavior and fewer errors on WoW locales other than English. (Localizers need no longer provide translated spell names. Pet family names are still required for providing fully correct functionality, though.)
- Thanks in part to the above, fixed an issue where Avoidance wouldn't show the proper icon.
- The menu of pet families is now alphabetically sorted for all languages.
- Includes minimal localization (enough for proper functionality, no translated UI) for European and Latin American Spanish.
- Includes new French localization by oXid FoX.
- Fixed layering of the minimap button relative to other frames.
- Compatible with Awbee's BeastTraining addon; if it's installed, it replaces the Beast Training window, and HH can be used for finding abilities but not for training them to your pet.
- Rebuilt pet skills database from http://petopia.brashendeavors.net as of 2008/06/20.

v. 2.4.2 - 2008/05/05
- Fixed an issue where the Filter (availability) menu wouldn't always work as expected.
- Fixed an issue where the pet family menu would sometimes fail to actually show the selected family.
- Fixed an issue where the HH UI could conflict with the Enchanting window, preventing it from being shown.
- Fixed an issue where a beast with multiple learnable abilities would be listed multiple times in the minimap button tooltip.
- Fixed some issues with positioning the minimap button.
- Fixed some issues related to HH's cache of known abilities becoming outdated.
- Fixed an error that would occur when using the `/hh reset` command. All saved data is cleared and options reset to default when the command is used.
- Dash now correctly shows as learnable by Raptors.
- Updated German localization by Ghanur of EU-Alexstrasza.
- Rebuilt pet skills database from http://petopia.brashendeavors.net as of 2008/05/05.
- KNOWN ISSUE: Classification of abilities by availability doesn't work as expected in some cases where availability of individual ranks is mixed (e.g. Growl 1 is tameable, Growl 2 is known by the hunter but not the pet, and Growl 3-8 are all well above the hunter's level).

v. 2.4 - 2008/03/25
- Hunter's Helper now has a GUI, bringing many new features:
- You can now easily browse pet abilities and find out where to learn them. Choose an ability (and rank, if applicable) in the list and you'll see which beasts you can tame to learn it, sorted according to where they can be found (with the zones closest to your current location listed first).
- You can also browse/search by zone to see all the beasts with learnable abilities in a given area. (Zones are sorted based on proximity to your current location; i.e. how many other zones you must pass through to reach them.) Choose a beast and you'll see which abilities can be learned by taming it.
- In both modes, beasts and abilities show additional useful info when available: level, normal/rare/elite status, and diet for the former; required level, description, and training point cost for the latter.
- Both modes also offer several ways to search or filter their data: by typing part of a zone, beast, or ability name; by beast family (e.g. Cat, Boar, Sporebat, etc.); or based on which abilities you already know (or can't yet learn).
- Show the new Hunter's Helper panel by typing `/huntershelper` or `/hh`.
- The new Hunter's Helper UI also serves as an improved replacement for the Beast Training window:
- Open it while you have a pet summoned and it'll automatically filter to show only those abilities learnable by that pet type.
- The list can be futher filtered based on which abilities your pet already has, which it can be trained with, and which it's can't learn yet.
- Choose an ability and the highest rank trainable to your pet will be automatically selected (and unlike the standard Beast Training window, choosing a different rank or ability doesn't require scrolling an extra-long list).
- Displayed training point costs take into account the points refunded when training a higher rank of an ability your pet already knows, so it's easier to see which abilities/ranks you can afford.
- Since the new UI replaces the Beast Training window, you can also show it by "casting" Beast Training from your spellbook or action bar.
- The new UI is separate from the main Hunter's Helper addon and is only loaded when it needs to be shown. (Don't like the new UI? Disable or delete the Hunter's Helper UI addon and HH will keep working as it did before.)
- There's also a new minimap button (off by default; type `/hh button` to show/hide it):
- Click it to show the full pet/ability browsing UI.
- If you're in a zone with beasts you can tame to learn new abilities, the button shows how many such beasts there are; mouse over it to see details in the tooltip.
- Configuration controls are moved into a pane in the new Interface Options panel provided by the default UI.
- Fixed an issue where taming or casting Beast Lore on a creature with learnable abilities would report that Hunter's Helper didn't know about them even if it did.
- Updated German localization by "Zara".
- Slash command feedback text is now localizable. (Translators should look at the top of localization.lua for new keys.)
- Rebuilt pet skills database from http://petopia.brashendeavors.net as of 2008/03/24.

here is some screenshots:
without addon :
and with the addon, it tells me unavailable, You can't teach this spell to your pet until you learn it yourself, blablabla.... :
(same pet, same hunter, same level of coffee in my mug...)

oh, and I've done the full localization of HH-UI (and FoM too) ; I'm currently finishing HH's one. how can I sent you the files?

Boar (lvl 18) is able to learn "Natural Armor 3" and "Great Stamina 3", both of which my hunter knows. Neither of them show up unless I check the filter to show "Unavailable". Both are colored red still.

Originally posted by Arkive With all due respect Gazmik, you didn't have to check the forum in the last 24 hours to see there was a problem.

Knowing a problem exists and being able to fix it are two different things. Until this past weekend, all that was posted here was evidence of the former. The 24 hours was between DanielCoffey posting fix instructions in this forum and his deciding to package them as a replacement for the entire addon.

I don't develop addons for a living, so I can't afford to drop everything and spend a couple hours reviewing someone's suggested code changes and publishing a new release the minute they're posted. Sometimes it might take a day or two.

Originally posted by Gaenjin Gamzik's post gives perfect example of exactly why people shouldn't fix/change someone's addon and upload it as a "patch" or as their own version that they say they will maintain. It causes nothing but a huge headache for both the author and his/her users.

Its different if its abandoned or grossly outdated and the original author is not responding to any attempts at contact, but for someone to just decide that they want to fix and change/revert some features... /frown. Its rude to the author and their fans, not to mention violates the author's copyrights.

Well put. I've nothing against the uploading of patches or addons to my work -- which is why I still allow them here on WoWI. In fact, very little if anything about the content of DanielCoffey's upload bothers me.

It's the timing and advertisement of the upload that caused problems. By rushing to release and giving other users the impression that he was "taking over" development of the addon, DanielCoffey caused drama on these forums which required me to intervene. I doubt that was his intention, but it's a consequence he could have foreseen and avoided.

Originally posted by Gaenjin I will pass the changes to Gazmik via email for review at his convenience.

Thanks, but I already reviewed the changes that were in your "fan fix"; you'll find that similar changes (or more thorough fixes for the same issues) are in the posted 2.4.2 release.

With all due respect Gazmik, you didn't have to check the forum in the last 24 hours to see there was a problem. People have been posting for over a week or two (including Daniel) that there was a mod-breaking issue. I think it's incredible that he went out of his way to help the community and even sought the guidance of the Wowinterface admins to make sure he did so correctly and has still been met with a, "I don't really like how you did that" from yourself and others. Perhaps if there was a single post stating, "I'm working on it", or, "I'm busy, gimme a week or two", we could have saved Daniel a lot of time working on this, and perhaps a bruised ego as well.

Originally posted by DanielCoffey Ah, Gazmik - thank you for posting. Firstly my apologies for the way I may have mis-handled this issue but all I can claim is inexperience at posting addon fixes and a keen desire to carry on using HuntersHelper. I am sorry.

I had tried to contact you by email and PM but yes, as you said, you were busy working on something else.

I would be most pleased to send you the list of changes I have made for your review and I will mark my Fan Fix branch as closed immediately as I was advised in advance of creating it by WowInterface as being the correct procedure.

I trust this satisfies everybody?

I think you have handled yourself with class, Sir. Thank you for the Fan update. Version numbers aside, You gave credit where credit was due and never implied this was anything but a fan update to share with the community. Thank you for that. As a bonus, we now also have an update from Gazmik himself. (For whatever, perhaps nefarious reasons, sadly...it is still appreciated.)

I hope you are not discouraged to share fixes with this community in the future. (Even line by line ones.)

Apologies for the Wall-o-text, but I feel it is important that Gazmik's fans and Gaenjin especially understand I did attempt to follow the correct procedures suggested by WowInterface before making ANY changes to the addon.

This is one of my most recent comments on my (now closed) Fan Fix thread which explains the steps I took and why...

I understand and appreciate what you all are saying. Yes, this is still Gazmik's addon and a wonderful one too - I was drawn to his addons by his great sense of humour... but it needed some immediate work to correct issues that were experienced by new Hunters.

Gazmik last updated HuntersHelperUI over a month ago and that update had several errors that left the Beast Training part of the addon non-functional.

Since that time I have made reasonable efforts to contact Gazmik - leaving comments requesting help on the forum for the addon, sending emails to the posted email address on the addon and sending a PM via WoWInterface. To date I have received no reply.

My next step before making ANY changes was to contact WowInterface and ask what the correct procedure was. Here is a copy of my questions to the admins and their answers...

As far as I am concerned, this is a Fan Fix to keep the addon going until such time as Gazmik makes contact. At that point, he can either absorb my changes or reject them and fix the highlighted issues himself. My Fan Fix will then be withdrawn and he can resume support of the addon as people have advised me is likely. This is why WowInterface allows Fan Fixes.

The reason I created a Complete Package version was that there are two sub-directories in the addon (HuntersHelper and HuntersHelperUI) and there were changes needed to both of them, so I thought a single file to download was the easiest for users of the addon to understand and follow. I have been thoroughly commenting my changes so that when Gazmik gets back from whatever break he is on he can quickly review my changes.

Remember - this is still his addon. As a new Hunter I just wanted it to work since there were no close alternatives out there and certainly none with his great sense of humour! Like you, I await the day he gets back from holiday or gets his email or computer fixed. In the mean time, this version (and subsequent minor revisions) will stand on WowInterface so we can use his addon.

As I have now stated, the Fan Fix is no longer needed and I will pass the changes to Gazmik via email for review at his convenience.

Ah, Gazmik - thank you for posting. Firstly my apologies for the way I may have mis-handled this issue but all I can claim is inexperience at posting addon fixes and a keen desire to carry on using HuntersHelper. I am sorry.

I had tried to contact you by email and PM but yes, as you said, you were busy working on something else.

I would be most pleased to send you the list of changes I have made for your review and I will mark my Fan Fix branch as closed immediately as I was advised in advance of creating it by WowInterface as being the correct procedure.

I disagree. The reason I emailed was to ensure you were aware of it ASAP and could take steps to avoid the same confusion issues that you just posted about. Yea, I assumed you'd be getting email, but I've seen cases of fans uploading "patches" and authors later saying they had no idea. You write great stuff, and have a huge fanbase and we (your fans) don't want to see some impatient "fan" decide to post their own fixes and features, and throw confusion into who uses what.

Gamzik's post gives perfect example of exactly why people shouldn't fix/change someone's addon and upload it as a "patch" or as their own version that they say they will maintain. It causes nothing but a huge headache for both the author and his/her users.

Its different if its abandoned or grossly outdated and the original author is not responding to any attempts at contact, but for someone to just decide that they want to fix and change/revert some features... /frown. Its rude to the author and their fans, not to mention violates the author's copyrights.

I appreciate your enthusiasm in trying to help track down, fix, and help other users with some of the issues in the HH 2.4.0 release. (Especially since life outside the workshop has been so crazy busy in the past month that I've had little time to do so myself.)

However, I can't say I approve of the way you've chosen to handle it -- a "patch" that replaces the entire addon and is advertised with a version number that implies official succession. Until now, I'd been buried in a higher volume of bug-report mail than I could promptly respond to, many of which reported bugs that were difficult to reproduce based on the information given. Now I also have to sort out who's not even using code I've written (since users may not report or even know whether they are)... and on top of that, there's a new flood of people telling me "ZOMG someone's stealing your addon!" (I'd say they're overreacting, but still, the more time I have to spend digging through mail to find useful bug reports, the less time I have to focus on getting things fixed and released, much less otherwise improved.)

If you've come up with a fix for a bug and would like to see it in the general release, please send it to me via email or PM -- I can't check this forum every day. If your fix is good, I'll probably publish it in a new official release... but I can't promise to do so instantly, or to always respond to email within 24 hours, so it might be wise to wait a little more than that before declaring my product abandoned and publishing your fix as a new version of the addon. If you can't wait a couple days, at least post and advertise your patch as an actual patch rather than a complete replacement and successor.

I've taken time away from other tasks to fast-track the release of HH 2.4.2 (gotta skip version numbers now so nobody's confused) to clean up this mess. It includes fixes for the same bugs handled by your patch, as well as several others, but hasn't been thoroughly tested (due to said rush), so there may be other issues I'm not aware of.

Originally posted by DanielCoffey The behaviour of the Filter drop-down is on my to-do list, along with the fact that the colours of some of the rows in the skills list are incorrect.

You have certainly installed it correctly - in fact you have been particularly thorough. As it stands at the moment, the 2.4.01 patch does not add or remove any files and the reset function clears the contents of the known skills list in the username/server/character/saved variables/huntershelper.lua file.

Over the next couple of days I will put some more time into getting the main parts of HuntersHelperUI working as I believe Gazmik intended but as I mentioned, this is my first foray into .lua so I apologise that my speed will be slow.

I am glad you are enjoying using Gazmik's mod - he did put a lot of effort into it - and I will do my best to help keep it working. Thanks also to the kind folks who have offered thanks and kind words via PMs.

Thanks man! I'd like to thank you a LOT for your kind and fast reply I'm sure you'll be able to fix those minor annoyances soon, and we'll be able to enjoy 100% of the addon.
To those that complain about fixes: Do NOT DOWNLOAD the fixes, keep the buggy/broken addons.
I'm sure the original author doesn't bother if mistakes are corrected, in fact, I'd appreciate the bugfixes if I was a mod author myself.

Just keep up the GREAT work and thanks once again to both, you and the author, for working hard on this addon.